We, in my opinion, live in a weird world. the world today is often consumed by terrible news stories, political distress, financial challenges, and many other negative things. Because of this, it makes it even more important to “be good...”. I put this in quotes because this is what I constantly tell myself day in and day out. It takes different forms though:

“Be good to my clients.”
“Be good to people that I encounter.”
”Be good at what I do.”
”Be good to my family.”

There are many occasions that I encounter people who about care nothing more than themselves and what they need. This is hard for me to deal with but, by nature and by profession, I’m a consultant. I get the irony.... However, I don’t want to deal with shitty people. So I’m in a conundrum.

There was a client back in 2016 whose behavior drove me to start my own business. My main driver was that I wanted to be able to work with people that I wanted to work with and, conversely, wanted to work with me. I did NOT want to work with people who were self-centered, self-serving assholes. Since srarting my company, I have “fired” a couple of clients because of their behavior or because of lying. I like working with good people. It makes me extra passionate about things I’m already passionate about. That, in turn, makes me really happy and I love my job.

All of that being said, there is one thing I know: The relationship is the most important thing.

Heres how I do this... I focus on this all the time, every day. I have a desk phone, but my clients don’t use it. Hell, I don’t use it... They call my cell phone. I don’t have an assistant that they go through to get me or schedule time. They call me directly and I schedule my own calendar. My clients aren’t forced to send an email. A lot of them text me. I don’t have “office hours”. I don’t use an out of Office reply. What I realized early on is that, professionally, I exist because of my clients and without my clients, I don’t exist. My clients pay me, and they pay me well, to be their partner and their advisor. They’re not customers, they are clients. And yes, there is a difference. If you don’t know the difference, then you’re someone’s customer. I am always honest, up front, and (sometimes painfully) transparent. I treat people like, well, people. Conversely, I expect the same. I only act in the best interest of my client with zero exceptions. I try to provide as much value as humanly possible to my client every day. I am unapologetically myself. If you don’t like me or my personality, then we may just not be a fit and that’s ok.

My goal: I want awesome people that I can work with who appreciate and respect me as much as I appreciate and respect them, allowing us to do amazing work to better their overall condition.

I've found that so many times in the last two years and the only thing I can hope for is to continue doing that for the rest of my life.